Electric Bike Thread

[grinch]

I work in the industry and talk to shop owners, managers, wrenches and other non-retail industry folks every day. I have a different experience.
Most see them as an annoying bubble product being foist upon us by large industry players and we’re unsure of where and how this will all shake out. The market will ultimately decide, and the general feeing is that further cleaving the $5k+ bike market with another niche product which happens to be heavier, more complicated and lacking standardization and fraught with access issues is not a winning combo.
The dangers posed to overall mtb access are real and backlashes to E-bikes if/when existing mtb access is reduced because land managers don’t want to or can’t enforce fine toothed rules about motor classes/speeds/strengths, are noted by those in the industry I talk to regarding strategic business decisions.
Universal non-motorized trail access is out of the question, so it’s a matter of sorting out the clearest, easily enforceable rules and guidelines for usage. The default here is limiting them to motorized trails. I’m not sure why that is such an issue.

All those pros you mention would not be riding them if they were not given them for free.


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Well written. Hits at the issues. I really appreciate the lack of condescending chest beating. Respect! I’ll skip all the squeakers and use your breakdown of perceived issues for my template

I think if your sample of shop owners, mechanics, etc etc, were ex shop owners, mechs etc, and Wouldn’t have to deal with the backlash from committing to ebikes more than a few would embrace them. Trail access issues aside as well as not having to be influenced by the chest beaters(emphasis on beaters), ie: they’d have nothing to prove, most of the industry , I’d wager, would be all in

It’s definitely not a bubble. They’re coming , big time, as sales, imports and usage has shown.

Just my opinion , as I haven’t seen any numbers on chipping or boosting power/speeds on them, but it seems limiting battery charge and power consumption to get through a decent ride would limit how much you’d want to jack jt up. I know one person who has chipped his(ex industry) but he’s not doing long rides and still is mostly on the lifts.

They are and will want to ride on singletrack and they’re coming. They want to mt bike just more vert, longer rides. I’m finding a lot of the family guys or guys that have been rat bagging their trucks for years would rather just jump on one and get a few laps in on the shuttle trails than trying to get a posse of dads to organize time for shuttles. That was my initial interest. Also seems it’s not just my interest. They still pedal tons , and some can get to the lifts on the reg, but they’re missing the dh laps.

All those pros might not be riding them if they had to buy them. Correct. If you took their ebike away, I bet they’d be looking at every option to try and get another, including buying one.......at a pro bro come on please please special price

[ill-advised strategy]

All those pros you mention would not be riding them if they were not given them for free.

I have a very distinct set of memories about this phrase. I can starkly remember this being said of "shaped skis" and "fat skis".

It may be apples and oranges, but it strikes a really familiar chord.

[gravitylover]

<snip> further cleaving the $5k+ bike market with another niche product which happens to be heavier, more complicated and lacking standardization <snip>

Universal non-motorized trail access is out of the question, so it’s a matter of sorting out the clearest, easily enforceable rules and guidelines for usage. The default here is limiting them to motorized trails. I’m not sure why that is such an issue.

Yeah complicated and not standard. Sounds like an awful lot of the bikes and parts that have been introduced over the last 20(?) years. It sure would be nice if some of that could be cleaned up and applied to e-mtb's but I won't hold my breath.

Universal access, or nearly universal, can happen and I think it will but it's 20 years away and at that point we'll both need e-mtb's to be able to get out on the trails anymore so we damn well better figure out how to fight and advocate for it. You can't default to something that doesn't exist. In the state I currently live in there isn't a single piece of state land, and only a very few pieces of public land, anywhere in the state where motorized vehicles are allowed off the pavement. So there isn't much fun to be had playing in the dirt other than on private land unless the user chooses to play the odds that there isn't enough enforcement so they won't be the one to get popped.

[JerseyDave]

Our sign officially went up this year. No e bikes in Northfield Vt. Muscles not motors.'
Lot's of things happen in Europe that don't in the US. Universal health care. High speed rail. Consumer protections. Labor rights.
Flawed logic.

[rod9301]

Our sign officially went up this year. No e bikes in Northfield Vt. Muscles not motors.'
Lot's of things happen in Europe that don't in the US. Universal health care. High speed rail. Consumer protections. Labor rights.
Flawed logic.

That's pretty stupid. Probably most people will disregard it.

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[muted]

That's pretty stupid. Probably most people will disregard it.

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I don't think 'most' people are selfish assholes, but certainly there are a lot of entitled selfish assholes out there will do that.

[HankScorpio]

http://reviews.mtbr.com/pivot-shuttle-ebike-review

Pivot jumping on the ebike bandwagon.

$10k and 46 lbs. Yeesh

[Redsmurfer]

Saturday afternoon met a 7 person party of E-moped riders riding up the Tyrolean downhill. No cutoffs though just micro brewery t-shirts and goatees. Future is so bright I bet you can see it from Vermont.

[JerseyDave]

Saturday afternoon met a 7 person party of E-moped riders riding up the Tyrolean downhill. No cutoffs though just micro brewery t-shirts and goatees. Future is so bright I bet you can see it from Vermont.

They do that all the time in Europe. It's inevitable that all the DHs will become e bike climbs so just embrace it.

[jackstraw]

So Trek has made (maybe it always was?) their ebike division separate in that you cannot just walk into a shop and buy one. The shop has to be an "ebike" shop. Pretty sure that means they are making them "buy in" X amount of dollars in ebikes to become a distributor.

Nothing like the corporate fucks sticking it to the bike shops that marketed their products and got them on the streets and trails to begin with.

[HankScorpio]

So Trek has made (maybe it always was?) their ebike division separate in that you cannot just walk into a shop and buy one. The shop has to be an "ebike" shop. Pretty sure that means they are making them "buy in" X amount of dollars in ebikes to become a distributor.

Nothing like the corporate fucks sticking it to the bike shops that marketed their products and got them on the streets and trails to begin with.

Trek and Specialized has been doing this before ebikes. I worked in a shop that was Trek dealer a while back and, if I recall correctly, 70% of the bike shit we sold had to have a Trek logo on it in order to be a dealer. Not sure if they still do this, but def predatory corporate nonsense.

I was also thinking that maybe Trek is being responsible by having ebike only dealers. With the contentiousness of ebikes, it should be up to the companies that make them and the dealers that sell them to make it clear to customers where ebikes can and cannot be ridden. Maybe Trek wants to differentiate ebikes from other Trek bikes so customers don't assume they can access the same terrain as mountain bikes? When I lived in Boston, a local shop sold e-mountain bikes and there were no public trails in that part of the state that actually allowed them. Pretty shitty to sell someone a $6k ebike that they can't ride anywhere in region.

Then again companies like Trek probably don't give a rat's ass about that.

[joetron]

It’s probably mostly associated with staff training to make sure they’ve got a few trained/certified mechanics for troubleshooting/etc.

It also gives an out to shops who aren’t interested and potential bump to shops that fully commit.


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[gravitylover]

I think Shimano requires a mechanic with their certs at the shop to be able to order parts and get tech support and I'm pretty sure Bosch is the same. Don't quote me on that though...

[Flyoverland Captive]

HankScorpio, I don’t think that’s true.. A friend owns a bike shop; he sells Trek and Salsa. Most of the stuff on display is Salsa, easily 75%. He has one Trek ebike on display, not a whole stable.

[jackstraw]

HankScorpio, I don’t think that’s true.. A friend owns a bike shop; he sells Trek and Salsa. Most of the stuff on display is Salsa, easily 75%. He has one Trek ebike on display, not a whole stable.

It probably comes down to local distribution and how many players they have in a region.

Santa Cruz just added a shop on and they already had a shop within 15 miles. I thought that was pretty shitty, but SC is not the company they used to be.

[grinch]

I think Shimano requires a mechanic with their certs at the shop to be able to order parts and get tech support and I'm pretty sure Bosch is the same. Don't quote me on that though...

More reports of norco having something special. 5 years in development and a few models . Dealers are chomping at the bit to get them. Like a bunch of other big companies they’re not at the bike show. Can’t wait to see what they have. Super clean no doubt. Hope they have different travel models rather than build options of the same travel

[buttahflake]

Thread has drifted more toward the pro-ebikes end of the spectrum. Fact of the matter is, electricity is the future. It’s gonna be a sick party, so stoked. I’m going to ride forever.
Future so Bright

[eldereldo]

Fuck electric bikes, I am picking up,one of those new electric snowmobiles, can hardly wait to bomb around the local cross country trails this winter, after all it has skis don’t it? And being electric it isn’t really motorized.

[buttahflake]

Derr, canaduh has spoken. Derr.

Electricity is the future, embrace it now.

[gravitylover]

More reports of norco having something special. 5 years in development and a few models . Dealers are chomping at the bit to get them. Like a bunch of other big companies they’re not at the bike show. Can’t wait to see what they have. Super clean no doubt. Hope they have different travel models rather than build options of the same travel

Yep clean, quick and FUN. This first round is one full squish(150/160), a plus ht and a fat, 7 models in all. Yes it's 3 build levels in the fs model. Patience grasshopper

[grinch]

Haha not my strong suit. 150rear travel is acceptable. Proper entry to the market. With pedal assist I think Kona should’ve went with more travel 153>134

[Dee Hubbs]

[grinch]

^^amazing package. Pricey af though. Big ebike shop in the uk ordered 200. 70 are pre sold and they sold another 11 yesterday. Cha ching!!!

[nickwm21]

I rode an ebike limebike across town yesterday. Cost me $6. An Uber would have cost $7.


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[mmmm...pow!]

Good, fuck uber, too.